A RECKLESS learner driver who killed a two-year-old boy when he lost control of his BMW and landed on a beach was jailed for eight years yesterday.

Paul Cambray, 45, hit the accelerator instead of the brake which sent the powerful automatic car flying over the ledge of a seaside car park, crushing little Maximillian Young and his father Charles on the sand 12ft below.

Cambray - described by his instructor as a "nervous" driver - bowed his head and shook uncontrollably yesterday as he was sentenced at Portsmouth crown court.

Judge Richard Price told him: "You took a terrible risk driving around without any proper supervision, knowing you could not properly control that car.

"The result is that a young life is lost and a man injured."

Cambray, of Ryde, Isle of Wight, was found guilty of causing Maximillian's death by dangerous driving and dangerous driving in relation to Mr Young at an earlier hearing.

The jury also convicted him of unlawfully wounding Mr Young. Cambray had denied causing death by dangerous driving, dangerous driving and unlawful wounding.

He was disqualified from driving for 10 years.

During the three-week trial, the court heard Cambray did not have L-plates on his car at the time of the horror plunge at Yaverland, Sandown, on the Isle of Wight on July 24 last year.

Cambray, a carpenter, who was driving unsupervised, had told police: "It was an accident. My foot slipped."

He revved the engine while the BMW 535i was on top of Mr Young, causing further injuries.

Maximillian's mother Antje ran across the beach to find her husband screaming in agony and her son's lifeless body face down in the sand.

The boy died at the scene of horrific injuries to his spine, lung, neck and skull.

Mr Young, an architect from Fulham, London, suffered two broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and burns.